


Cockroach

by SavvySlick



Category: Wandersong (Video Game)
Genre: Audrey's alive, Blood and Injury, But nothing too bad tho, Gen, Post-Canon, Semi/No Beta we die like the King of Hearts, This is my first fic on Ao3 so I don't really know what to say, also sorry the chapters aren't split up evenly wordcount wise, don't worry she'll get some lines eventually, redemption arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29024127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SavvySlick/pseuds/SavvySlick
Summary: It's a bright new dawn on a new world... Or, well, the same world, really, but with a fresh new coat of paint, and a second chance to shine. Despite the hectic adventures they'd had over the past few weeks, and their frightening near-miss with The End, Miriam had begun to figure that everything would simmer back to normality, at last... No more seeking out Overseers, or flying halfway around the world in a manner of days, or running around doing sidequests for everyone who wanders by.... Funny, how- against all odds- some things just refuse to die. Even when no one wanted them around anymore. Like cockroaches, for instance. Or snotty little heroes.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 23





	1. A Big Problem

“Are you about ready to go, Miriam?”

Sapphire let the question linger a moment, watching as her granddaughter fidgeted with the oversized book she’d perched upright in her lap, flipping back and forth between the pages- worn and fading with age- as though her life depended on it. Its cover was leather, dyed a muted purple that, at one point, might have been vibrant and rich. It had small scuff marks all along its spine, perhaps from all the previous times Miriam had grabbed it with the same intensity she held it now. 

Her brows were furrowed, expression the pinnacle of concentration. 

“... Miriam…?” 

“Huh-? What?” She finally responded, clapping the book shut as she finally snapped back to reality. She turned to blink at her grandmother, picking absentmindedly at the book’s thick cover with her nails. 

Saphy only smiled for a moment. Smiled the same way all those other sweet little old ladies smile. Where it defined all the wrinkles on their face, and pushed their eyes into a gentle squint. Where it showed so much emotion- sympathy and calm and delight- before it showed a single tooth. 

“Are you ready, dear?” She repeated, patiently. Miriam blinked just once more, before suddenly scrambling to a stand, tucking the rather heavy book under her arm with only a little difficulty. 

“Oh- yeah. Yeah, I’m ready…” Her boots clicked against the floor as she spurred herself at a disorganized trot to her grandmother’s side, the book slipping a little in her grip, forcing her to shrug it upward into a position a little more secure. 

Saphy eyed the notable amount of paper scraps stuffed between some of the pages- makeshift page markers… At least she was learning... Last time Miriam attempted to dog-ear one of the pages, it cracked and fell right off. 

“That’s quite a lot of potions you’ve picked out…” She noted, head tilting, an unreadable sort of glint in her eye, “That’ll probably be a whole day of brewing alone…” 

Miriam hesitated a little, casting her gaze from her grandmother to the book, first, then down to the floor for a second. 

“Yeah, I know…” It took her a while before she had responded, and she paused for a moment after she’d done so to glance back at the book, dragging her gaze nonchalantly over the title. ‘ _The Intricate Procedures of Potion Making, by Sapphire Storm_ ’. 

“... Couldn’t really decide between just a couple, though…” She knew she didn’t have to justify herself to Saphy. That she’d only been making an observation. But force of habit was a nasty thing to break, sometimes, 

“And besides, the _least_ I can do for the person who literally _saved_ the _entire world_ is make them a basket full of potions.”

It was with deliberate footsteps that Miriam shuffled herself towards the door, grabbing first the large wicker basket left hanging on a small hook on the door, and next, her broom she left leaning against the wall. Sure, she wasn’t limping anymore, but that didn’t mean wandering wherever she wanted to was all that easy. 

Seeing an opportunity to help, Sapphire carefully took the book out from under Miriam’s arm, holding it to her chest as the younger witch managed to get herself situated, fastening the basket to the other end of it. She still hated that cheap Mohabumi broom more than anything, but at least she’d practically mastered it, now. Sure, it was still an incredibly foreign feeling, but after all she’d gone through after the past few weeks, she wasn’t going to be stopped by a poorly made broom. 

Having focused herself on properly clutching the handle, she finally looked up only to find Saphy flipping through the marked pages with delighted curiosity. 

“... Stamina increase… Bottled joy…” An eyebrow raised, “Levitation…? Color changing?”

“Seems like stuff they’d like.” Was Miriam’s simple answer, looking reservedly back at her broom, “Back in Chaandesh, they seemed so happy to perform the simplest of spells… Figured it wouldn’t hurt to give them an opportunity to try out a couple more.” 

“That’s very thoughtful of you, dear…” Not-so-subtle praise, punctuated with another classic smile. It was quite common of her grandmother to encourage her infrequent bouts of social behavior in that sort of way. Normally it’d embarrass her- or at the very least make her feel like a child; being praised for something that should come easy to anyone with advanced social skills tended to rub Miriam the wrong way. However, today, she simply managed to swallow it with a shrug, floating back a little, as to not obstruct the elder witch from opening the door. 

It was a beautiful mid-morning in the outskirts of Delphi. It was difficult for anyone to admit it’s lush, vibrant landscape wasn’t a pretty sight. It’s typical shades of deep oranges, yellows and reds, however, only seemed far more vivid as of recent. The forest almost pulsed with life, and the air was crisp and fresh in a way it hadn’t been in… Well, what seemed like forever. 

Perhaps it was one of the perks of the world being made anew. Or perhaps it was much easier to enjoy every minuscule little detail the world offered you after coming so close to having it all ripped away. 

The two were side by side, Miriam riding a little slower than she usually would to accommodate for her grandmother’s usual pace. 

“Most of these recipes have a broadleaf base…” She mused, to no one in particular, really, “... We could start by gathering a couple of those first, since they’ll probably be the easiest thing to get… I’d figure a basket full would be more than enough, but maybe we could get a basket and a half, just in case anything overboils…” 

“Do you remember how to tell the good leaves from the less effective ones?” Sappy questioned, lightheartedly feigning distrust. Miriam gave a gentle roll of her eyes, but a small grin was etched into her face nonetheless. It’d been a while, sure, but all of her potion-making pop quizzes had been burned into her mind by now. She hadn’t gotten an answer wrong in years. 

“The richer the color, the better the leaf. And you can’t use the ones with frayed edges unless they’re waxy on both sides.” 

Sapphire gave a short, hoody cackle of delight, and a soft “Perfect! Just perfect!” that made Miriam smile the faintest bit wider. 

It was so strange… So… _Haunting_ to remember that- just a week or so ago- all of this could have been gone… A simple few days of ingredient scavenging and potion brewing was just what she needed to cool down from such a tense, world-saving adventure, but… It was difficult to forget what the consequences would have been, were she and Kiwi not so lucky… 

She’d halted her broom for a moment, turning to eye up a couple of promising looking leaves from a nearby tree, when a rough, uncanny voice almost made her jump right out of her seat. 

“ _Hey! OK humans!_ ” 

Saphy didn’t seem too shocked by the unusual sound, gasping quietly in delight, 

“Oh, look Miriam! It’s the nice neighbor couple.” 

Yes, the neighbor couple… The neighbor couple who were giant, teal-furred monsters. Admittedly, Miriam was still getting used to that. 

She turned quickly, gripping tightly to her broom (the damned thing always had the habit of turning an itch too far in any given direction). 

“Oh… Hello, trolls…” She greeted, awkwardly, glancing for a moment between her grandmother and the pair. Amongst the autumn foliage, the two looked quite out of place; but even aside from that, there was something… Unnerving about their presence. They rocked back and forth on their legs, muscles tensed, like a pair of disgruntled dogs. 

The smaller of the two had eyed Miriam up and down for a moment, then looked around the general area, as if expecting someone else, 

“ _... Where’s the other one?_ ”

“... Kiwi?” She questioned, leaning back a little, uncomfortably, “They’re back home, getting some much-needed rest, no doubt.” 

… Another beat passed in silence between the four of them. 

“... Is there something you need from… Either of us-?”

“ _Yes!_ ” The larger troll hastily growled, practically cutting her off, “ _Yes. There’s a_ big _problem down in our cave, and we need an OK human like you to give the final say._ ” 

“... A big problem…?” Miriam echoed, blinking a little, “A big problem like what?” 

“ _No time to stand around! We’ll explain on the way, just come with us._ ” 

Without waiting for her to agree, the two began bounding their way down the hill they came from- towards the entrance of their cave home. Their movements were faster than anything she’d seen from a troll; usually they were only known to lumber and shuffle about. 

Briefly, Miriam paused to glance back at her grandmother, clearly a little bewildered at the suddenness of the pair’s ‘request’, if you could call it that. Saphy simply chuckled, lightly, leaning over to unhook the basket from the back of the broom, 

“You’d better go ahead and see what they need, dear. Don’t worry about me. I’ll get a head start on your friend’s potions for you.” 

Despite her words, Miriam hesitated a second longer, apprehension clear on her face. She took a few seconds, before muttering a quiet, but genuine “Thanks, Saphy.” before taking off at a faster pace down the hill to meet up with the trolls- who’d paused for a moment when they’d realized the human wasn’t yet tailing behind. 

“Soo… What’s this big problem, then?” She questioned, finally catching up. The couple, finally resuming their quickened pace, shot uncomfortable glances at each other, clearly not knowing where to begin. 

“ _... We wanted to spend some time alone after the… You know… All the stress from the world almost ending wasn’t doing either of us any good._ ” The larger one started, voice reverberating off of the walls as he stepped into the mouth of the cave, 

“ _But we noticed there were… Differences with our cave-_ “ The smaller one picked up, “ _Tunnels and pathways we didn’t remember being there before… And we decided to take a look around, you know… To try and find a good setup for ourselves…_ ” 

Miriam gave a few nods- if only to show she was listening- glancing around the cave system. What they were saying checked out. Aside from some familiar-looking rocks and crystals, the cave looked entirely different. Tunnels and pathways carved down into who knew where, pulsating crystals only helping to illuminate the changes. 

“ _Then we went down one particular tunnel…_ ” The larger one began, finally digging his heels into the rocky floor beneath him, sliding to a stop before pointing a large, jagged finger towards a plugged up cave entrance, “ _... That one, there… And that’s when we found that… That_ **_horrible_ ** _thing…_ ” 

The venom that dripped from his voice caused the human to pull back a little, but it seemed the troll didn’t quite notice, continuing on, 

“ _We were going to just crush it at first… But… We’re trying to be… Nicer to humans, and all of that… So… We decided to block it in, for now… Before it woke up and escaped._ ” 

Shuffling forward, the smaller troll clasped the large rock blocking the way, lifting it over his head with only a little bit of strain. Grunting, it tossed the obstacle aside, and Miriam watched in silence as the two turned their gaze to her yet again. They both watched, tilting their heads towards the newly opened passageway, silently beckoning her forward. Eventually, she obeyed, hovering slowly forward, the other two creeping behind her- almost as though _they_ were the ones who should have been afraid. 

She only got a few feet forward when she gasped, her broom jostling as she flinched in surprise. 

The tunnel hadn’t been very long, eventually widening into a large, crudely circular dead end ‘room’. The ceiling- as well as being decorated with crystals and stalactites- had a large gaping crack that had seemingly been sealed up at _some_ point in time. 

Sprawled out on the floor was a very familiar figure... A very familiar figure clad in red and yellow, with a tattered scarf barely wrapped around her neck... A very familiar figure with jet black hair- mangled and matted- with small chunks obstructing around half of her face…

A very familiar figure lying in a small puddle of her own blood, still and motionless. 

“ _... It hasn’t moved..._ ” The smaller troll remarked, almost in surprise at this somewhat obvious revelation. 

Miriam couldn’t move. Her gaze stayed fixated on the sight before her… Stuck gawking at this… _Villain_ she was _certain_ she’d never have to see again. 

This villain who was clearly very, _very_ injured. 

“... Get…” She tried to speak, but her voice gave out after the first word. She swallowed, then tried again, 

“... Get Grandma Saphy…”


	2. Rude Awakening

There was nothing on Eya’s green earth half as irresistibly inviting as Kiwi’s own bed had been on the night the world was renewed. Sure, they’d traveled around the entirety of the world. Sure, they’d visited magnificent, beautiful places- seen otherworldly sights most couldn’t hope to set  _ foot _ on.

And yet, the most comforting sight on their entire journey- excluding, of course, that of the world not crumbling under their feet- had been their own home. Their room, their bed- which the humble bard practically threw themself into, losing themself in their own exhaustion and the comforting familiarity of finally being  _ home _ . 

And that was where they had stayed for over eleven hours, curled up amongst thick, warm blankets, swaddled like a newborn. Incoherent, melodic little murmurs and snores fell loosely from their mouth as they dozed, dreamlessly and completely at ease. 

Or, they  _ were  _ at ease, until a series of sudden, violent bangs buckled them out of their slumber. They sat up with a startled gasp, clutching the covers and yanking them up to their neck, as if it had any semblance of shield functionality. 

They remained frozen like that for a few quiet seconds, and Kiwi had just been contemplating going back to bed when the dreaded banging came again- a little more frantic in nature this go around. Though at least now they weren’t so discoordinated that they couldn’t tell the source of the sound, or its general direction. 

The door… Someone was knocking at the door… 

The bard paused for a moment, almost longingly eyeing their disproportionate pile of pillows and blankets, before finally worming themself loose of their cozy restraints. The floor felt cold and rough against their bare feet, and they groaned quietly and discomfort and exhaustion, but quickly pattered their way to the door all the same, not willing to keep their mystery guest waiting any longer than they already had been. 

“Kiwi, there you are. We have to g-” It took Miriam a second to digest the sight before her, being too focused on prepping her broom for a liftoff with a second passenger. 

Kiwi was, in fact, there at the door- that much was fine enough. But they hunched themself over, leaning against the door frame as though they’d just pulled an all-nighter. Instead of their usual outfit of comfortable greens and browns, they wore a pale pink set of sleepwear, decorated with small flowers and birds. Their usual green hat had been replaced with a nightcap patterned in a similar fashion. 

They took a moment to stare blankly at Miriam, before a small smile lit up their otherwise tired expression. 

“Oh, Miriam…!” Was all they managed to get out, before they were interrupted by a pointed, decrescendoing scale that the witch- having jumped back a little in surprise- eventually identified as some sort of yawn, “... What brings you here so early…?”

Miriam blinked for a moment, casting her gaze over the bard a final time, before answering, 

“... Kiwi, it’s-“ for a moment she’d paused, just to look up at the sky, as if confirming her own statement before she even got the words out, 

“... It’s almost noon, Kiwi.” 

Now it was the bard’s turn to blink, taking a moment to process the information they’d been given. Wordlessly, they leaned their head out the door frame, glancing up at the sky, catching a glimpse of the sun crawling up to its peak. 

“... Oh… Would you look at that…” They noted, softly.

A large stretch of silence grew between the two for a moment, before Miriam finally cleared her throat, catching the bard’s attention yet again. She gestured with her head to the open space behind her on the broomstick,

“... You hopping on, or what?”

“Hopping on?!” Kiwi echoed in surprise, finally pulling themselves back inside the confines of their house, frantically glancing down at their attire, “But I… I’m not dressed!”

“Grab a coat then. This can’t really wait.” 

They hesitated a tick, confusion and exhaustion still rather prevalent on their face, but finally they nodded in understanding, carefully closing the door with a gentle click. It reopened in what felt like a little less than a minute; Kiwi still wore their nightclothes- sans the hat, which had been abandoned in favor of their usual one, feather and all. Really the only thing they’d changed aside from that was the cloak they threw over their shoulders, and the boots they’d jumped into. 

Through their own mild apprehension and sleepiness, they still managed to flash a toothy grin, 

“Ready when you are!”

“Great.” Miriam’s reply was curt, but genuine, and she quickly pushed herself further forward on her broom, making room for Kiwi to awkwardly clamber on behind her. She took a moment to glance over her shoulder- just to ensure her friend was properly situated- before facing forward yet again, body crouched, fingers tense as they clutched the broom handle. 

“Hang on.” It was a formality more than anything, as the broom winded generously backward, before quickly zooming up into the air no sooner than she’d finished speaking. Kiwi gave a startled yip- something they seemed to do every time she took off with them in tow- but quickly settled themself once she finally reached an altitude where she could straighten out. 

For a little while, Kiwi let their eyes fall shut, taking a moment to feel the way the wind whipped past their face. Finally, they leaned forward, tilting their head to get a better look at Miriam as they began to speak, 

“So, what’s the big deal?” Their face- previously just as chipper as it usually was- marred a bit in worry, “Nothing bad’s happened to Delphi, right…?” 

“Oh, no. No, nothing’s wrong with Delphi-” she reassured rather quickly, letting go of the broom with one hand for the sole purpose of waving the thought away, “It’s… It’s not a  _ city _ problem so much as it’s a…  _ Person _ problem…” 

“... Oookay…” It was clear Kiwi didn’t quite understand what it was she was trying to convey. She clicked her tongue- less in annoyance and more in thought- trying to figure out the best way to break the news. It needed to be something  _ clever _ … Something to gently  _ ease _ them into the problem at hand… 

“Audrey’s alive.” Miriam finally stated, bluntly. 

She could hear the bard’s breath hitch behind her. There was a small pause for them to wrap their head around the words, before, 

“ _ WHAT?! _ ” 

Miriam nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound, the broom giving a fierce tremor, before lurching downward- a direction it would have continued to plummet in, had the witch not tugged the cruddy thing back upward again, stabilizing it a second time. Her hands shook with the force that she used to clutch to the substandard broom, and she turned with ragged breaths and widened eyes back to face her passenger, 

“ _ Eya almighty-  _ **_don’t_ ** _ … do that…! _ ”

In hindsight, maybe this was  _ her _ fault for choosing to break the news several tens of feet up in the air… 

By the looks of things, Kiwi wasn’t doing much better; their irises alone were the size of dinner plates, and they kept a shaking hand clutched to their head- which had probably been the only thing stopping their hat from flying right off. 

They both swallowed thickly- uncomfortably- in unison, but Kiwi was first to find their voice, 

“ _... Audrey’s… _ ” 

“Alive, yeah…” The witch finished for them, casting her friend one last look to ensure they’d manage, before averting her eyes back to the sky before them, “Found her in the local cave systems in...  _ Awful _ shape… But she’s breathing, so…” She trailed off a little, shrugging rather stiffly, continuing on past any mention of that infernal  _ ‘hero’s’  _ condition, “Saphy’s watching her for now, but I figured out of anyone,  _ you _ should probably… You know…  _ Be _ there…” 

Miriam’s gaze trailed down to the scenery beneath the two of them… Blurs of indecipherable greens, browns, and blues they kept on whizzing past… 

“... Kiwi…?”

“... Y… Yeah…?”

“You alright…?”

She could hear them swallow audibly again. Her brows furrowed together, and she chewed on the corner of her lip, keeping her face turned away, guiltily… Must have been quite the rude awakening, in retrospect… Both metaphorically, as well as literally. 

“... I’ll be alright…” was their eventual response, as the bard quietly shifted their gaze to watch the way their shadow danced across the landscape beneath them. Miriam didn’t probe any further. 

The remainder of the flight was quiet, and otherwise uneventful (if you exclude the one moment Kiwi had pointed almost half-heartedly at a nearby flock of birds, noting rather astutely “... Birds…”), and eventually Miriam touched down with grace just a few feet away from their home. Kiwi slid off without any prompting from her, simply fidgeting in silence. Only after ensuring they were safely grounded did the witch practically throw herself off of her broom, quickly snatching it up in one hand. Opening the unlocked door with relative ease, she beckoned Kiwi inside. 

Though not their own home, Kiwi couldn’t deny the Storm household had a certain atmosphere about it that helped it feel so… Familiar. Perhaps that was a result of how welcomed they’d felt amongst the presence of the witches nowadays… Even when the world was on the brink of collapse, the small home still felt like… Well… A second home. A little pocket of space where tensions weren’t so high. 

Saphy had been standing in her usual position above the large pot in the middle of the room- the centerpiece of the ground floor- stirring it’s mystery contents with a large cast-iron spoon. When the sound of the door swinging open jostled her from her thoughts, however, she turned her attention from it to the pair. Though she first seemed pleased at their appearance, it took less than a second for her expression to twist in surprise, a light gasp falling from her mouth, 

“Miriam Adeline Storm!” Each syllable was crispy articulated as the elder witch hastily made her way to the door to greet her guest, waving her hands scoldingly, “You dragged the poor thing out of bed?!”

“I did not!” She retorted, her face flushing bright red against her usually pale skin, “ _ They _ dragged  _ themself _ out of bed!  _ I _ just woke them up!”

“Have you eaten yet, dear?” Sapphire continued, ignoring the protests of her granddaughter as she cupped Kiwi’s face in one hand, bringing it down to get a better look at them. Again, they fidgeted a little, the realization of just how hungry he was finally beginning to creep in. 

“Uh, well… Not really-” came the bard’s timid reply, “but-” 

“Oh, we’ll fix that soon enough.” It was a statement. A promise- and an earnest one at that, and she quickly took Kiwi’s hand in her own, guiding them further into the house. They rubbed the back of their neck, a red glow rising against their cheeks, 

“That’s… Very kind, Miss Storm- and I’d like that very much! But…” There was a pause for a swallow, “... I’d… I’d like to see Audrey first, if you wouldn’t mind…”

Saphy stared for a moment- almost thoughtfully so- before she gently released their hand, taking a small step back, 

“Of course, dear. I wouldn’t dream of stopping you.” A light, sympathetic smile melted across her expression, “So the young lady is a friend of yours, then?” 

Funny how such an innocent question could make the bard freeze up the way they did.

“ _ Uh- _ ” Their voice cracked significantly, and they quickly cleared their throat in an attempt to cover that little fact up, “Me and Audrey… Know each other…” It wasn’t exactly a direct answer to her question… But it wasn’t a lie, either. 

Whether Saphy caught onto that or not, however, she didn’t explicitly convey, remarking with a small “Excellent!” as she scuttled back over to the boiling pot. Grabbing a much deeper spoon, she proceeded to ladle a large helping into a nearby bowl. It was rather liquidy in consistency, but a deep reddish-orange in color, and Kiwi’s head tilted inquisitively at the sight.

“If you wouldn’t mind, could you take this to her, then?” 

“... Is it some sort of… Health potion that’ll help her get better…?” They asked with curiosity, creeping forward to gingerly accept the bowl in both hands. Sapphire laughed her signature hooty laugh, clearly tickled at their attempt to connect the dots. 

“No, not yet, dear! It’s only vegetable broth. One of the first rules of potion consumption is never drinking anything on an empty stomach! It wouldn’t do her much long term good if she couldn’t keep it down.”

“Where’d you put her, anyways?” Miriam interjected, casting her gaze about the room as though she expected to see the injured ex-hero propped up against a wall, or sprawled out on yet another floor. Sapphire turned to attention at the question, before answering nonchalantly, 

“I got her nice and set up in my own bed. Poor thing could barely stay conscious for over a minute.” 

“You… You what?!” You’d think her grandmother had just confessed to a crime the way the younger witch had reacted. She sputtered incoherently for a while, clearly not finding that answer satisfactory, 

“But where are  _ you _ going to sleep?! We only have two beds!”    
  


“She clearly needs it far more than me. I’ll manage, dear.” 

If anything, this only seemed to make Miriam even more volatile. She stammered a little more, barely squeezing out a “B-but-!” before she simply gave up, throwing her hands up with an exaggerated growl and taking quickly to the stairs without another word (after nearly tripping over her own buckling legs, anyways). 

Kiwi stared quietly for a moment, before slowly turning to blink at the older woman at their side. All she granted them in reply was a knowing look and a shake of her head, before offering a casual, 

“Well. You’d better go after her.” 

Holding the dish with the care and guardianship one would usually treat an infant, the bard did exactly that, creeping their way up the stairs so as to not spill a single drop. Its heat sent the smell wafting upward, tickling their nose. Saphy’s cooking never failed to hit the spot- something they’d experienced firsthand. 

Miriam, of course, had beat Kiwi to the top, and had seemingly just been... Standing there and tapping her foot, scowling overtop of a bedresting lump for quite some time now. The candles up on the second floor had long since been blown out, providing a little more darkness than there would have been otherwise, even despite the fact it was still mid-day. 

The wooden floor creaked quietly under their feet as the bard hesitantly crept forward to Miriam’s side, barely watching where they were going, eyes fixated on the person before them. 

… It was certainly Audrey, alright… There was no mistaking it. She lied sprawled out against the bed, a large gash having carved itself out right above her eye- cleaned to the best of one’s ability, but nasty nonetheless. Any lower, and her eye could have been taken out… 

She wasn’t  _ quite _ in her usual attire… Her sweater and sash had been removed, and set on a chair to the side of the bed, alongside her gloves, boots, and mangled scarf. Almost everything had been liberally splotched with red. It seemed she kept a thinner, shorter sleeved black shirt beneath the usual sweater- as that’s all that’d been covering her upper half at this point. It, too, was stained, glistening a deep red that could barely be identified against the dark clothing. 

At first, Kiwi wondered why Miss Storm hadn’t at least done the service of tucking her under the covers; the ‘hero’ had clearly been shuddering- probably from exposure, what with the sweater off. However, looking a little closer, they soon realized the sheen of sweat that covered almost all of her exposed skin. Her body wasn’t regulating its temperature properly… Covering her up wouldn’t do much good when she’d just go from shuddering to overheating instead. 

Despite everything… _ Everything _ that…  _ Nasty  _ person had ever done to them… The bard couldn’t help but wince in some small display of sympathy. They’d never once seen Audrey in such a sorry state… Not after she’d drank that ‘potion of power’… Not after the two of them fell into that sinkhole… Not even after Miriam had barraged her with magic in a vain attempt to delay the inevitable. 

… It wasn’t befitting of her. It was almost uncanny to see her usually snide and obnoxiously cocky expression replaced with anything close to discomfort- let alone the twisted look of pain that twitched over her features even in sleep. 

They gently placed Saphy’s still warm bowl of broth on the seat of the chair, right beside Audrey’s gloves. Kiwi was certain it wouldn’t keep its warmth before she even began to wake up. 

“... She… Uh, well…” Again, the bard hesitantly rubbed the back of their neck, unsure of what to make of the wounded caricature of the violent hero they once knew, “... She looks-” 

“Worse than usual.” Miriam finished for them, crossing her arms and staring down at the young woman as though she were an unruly student, and not the worryingly injured victim she  _ actually _ was. 

“That wasn’t what I was going to say…” Kiwi huffed, quietly, lips tugged into a small frown at the sight. They stood still for a minute, frozen in time, before adding on, quieter, 

“ _... But I guess you’re not wrong… _ ”

There was nothing left for them up there… Nothing left to see… And so Kiwi quickly made themself scarce, trotting quietly back towards the stairs. They didn’t have to turn to figure that Miriam was wordlessly making her way in the same direction, following behind them. 

No sooner than their foot touched down on the ground floor did Saphy reappear, waiting for the route to clear before making her way upstairs herself. She’d climbed just about half of them before suddenly stopping herself, turning in a haste to call down to the two of them, 

“I set out lunch for the two of you! And I  _ don’t _ want to see you leaving this house until you finish eating. That goes for you  _ especially _ , Kiwi!” It wasn’t a very threatening remark in the least. But it was easy to tell that didn’t invalidate it, either. It wasn’t a request. 

Not that Kiwi was complaining, though. After sleeping for so long, they weren’t going to deny a nice warm pick-me-up in the form of a well-made lunch. Besides…  _ Someone _ needed to taste test all that broth. To make sure it was suitable for a  _ ‘hero’ _ like Audrey, of course.

They moseyed quietly to the dinner table, where- just as Sapphire had promised- two bowls lied in wait. It was the same broth substance, but with the addition of a couple chopped up vegetables- just to make the whole thing a little more filling. 

Miriam hadn’t hesitated to take a seat either, but clearly didn’t carry the same ravenousness Kiwi had- quite literally- brought to the table. She watched as her friend dug into the bowl for a while, wordless and distracted. 

Only when Kiwi had made it through about half of their dish did they notice Miriam had barely touched her own. 

“... You not hungry…?” They questioned between spoonfuls, beginning to scrape the bottom of the bowl. She sighed, curtly, 

“It’s not that I’m not hungry, I’m just…” The witch’s hands balled into fists, and eventually she just pushed herself away from the table entirely, crossing her arms over her chest, 

“I dunno…” 

“... It’s about Audrey, isn’t it-?”   
  


“Of course it’s about Audrey!” The words came out far louder and harsher than she’d intended them to, but even despite, she didn’t flinch, throwing her hands in the air once more- as though that’d help her feel any better, “It’s  _ always _ about Audrey!  _ Every problem _ we  _ ever _ had to deal with throughout that whole  _ ordeal _ was  _ always _ because of Audrey!”

“The world didn’t start ending because of Audrey…” Kiwi offered meekly with a small gesture of their spoon. 

“Well considering how determined she was to  _ keep _ it ending I wouldn’t be surprised if it did!” She scoffed, not willing to be incorrect in the middle of her long overdue tirade, “And pardon me if I’m not  _ jumping for joy  _ to have that… That  _ world ender _ sitting in my  _ grandmother’s _ bed, hogging all the space, and… And sleeping a foot away from where  _ I _ sleep! She shouldn’t even-”

… Miriam paused mid-sentence- practically catching her tongue between her teeth as she hesitated… No… She couldn’t say that in front of Kiwi, no matter how true it was. By all means, Audrey  _ shouldn’t _ have been alive… But the pacifistic bard wasn’t the right person to say that in front of. Even if they both knew it was true. It would only upset them… 

“ _I’m... I’m just not thrilled…_ ” She hissed at last, gaze jutting down to the floor as her shoulders raised, “ _I don’t want her in my house… I don’t want her in my_ **_life_** _,_ ** _ever_** _again. Not after all the stunts she’s pu-_ ” 

“I never told you about my time on the mountain, did I…?” 

“... W… What…?” Miriam blinked, the sudden change of topic enough to disrupt even her averted gaze, of all things. Kiwi was no longer eating- even with half of their bowl still full and warm- choosing instead to poke uncomfortably at a chunk of carrot with their spoon, 

“... I never told you about what happened to me when I climbed Ichor Mountain… I never found the time…” 

Now it was Miriam’s turn to blink, expression blank and puzzled- clearly not understanding where the bard was trying to take the conversation, 

“... I mean… No, not  _ really _ … Only a couple of sentences at most, but-” 

“Can I?” 

Their voice was quiet. And composed. But their tone was… Serious. Uncharacteristically so. And Miriam almost grimaced at how… Foreign it sounded, coming out of the mouth of someone as cheery as Kiwi was… 

“... Yeah… Go ahead, Kiwi…” 


	3. A Difficult Choice

… Even with Miriam’s go-ahead, it took the bard a little while before they began speaking again. They were taking a moment to compose themselves, no doubt… Or maybe just to mull everything over… 

“... Well… Admittedly, it’s a long story…” Kiwi confessed, finally setting the spoon back down into the bowl with a gentle clatter, “And… I mean… There’s a lot of parts at the beginning that… Don’t kinda have anything to do with this… I’m not really sure where to start…” 

“Well, I remember you saying that Audrey was there.” Miriam offered with a loose shrug, “Back when Langtree was still falling apart at the seams… But you never really told me what she  _ did _ … Just that she crawled out of the woodworks and showed her ugly mug…” 

“ _ Miriam _ …” Kiwi scolded quietly, frowning. The witch raised her hands quietly in deferral, but made no move to apologize or correct themselves. Not like they expected her to… 

They simply inhaled sharply, letting it slide for now, 

“... Right… Well… Yeah, she was  _ there _ … I’d nearly finished climbing the whole mountain, trying to find the next Nexus point, when… Uh…” 

… It’d been easy for them to forget everything they’d been through when the fate of the world was still at stake… It’d all gone by so quickly, then… Everything happened all at once… Or, at least that’s what it felt like back then. 

But  _ now _ … Now it was all coming back in almost  _ painfully _ crystal clarity. Almost as though they were back on that mountain peak all over again… The howl of the wind… The chill seeping into their clothing. The way their heart plummeted when the hero… When the  _ ‘hero’ _ dove into the fray, clutching tightly to their sword with the same deadly intent she approached every Overseer with… 

“... She was there…” They repeated, struggling not to lose themself in their own thoughts outright, unaware of the way they’d begun clutching the side of the table, “... She was there when the King of Hearts had attacked me-” 

“Attacked  _ you _ ?” The bard flinched a little at the interjection, blinking a bit. 

“Well, yeah? But I didn’t know it was him back then-!” Or maybe they had… But they just weren’t ready to admit it, yet… Kiwi continued without voicing the thought, “By the time I’d run into him, he’d gotten…  _ Really _ sick… And, since the spirit world had collapsed, he was just sort of… Roaming around… Attacking whatever he saw… Out of fear, I think… Eya knows  _ I’d _ probably be terrified, too, if I were in his shoes…” 

It was… Difficult for Miriam to picture, to be sure. She supposed she didn’t have much room to talk- she’d never even seen all the Overseers in person… The Queen of Winds, Chaos, Order, as well as the King of Hearts had never crossed her gaze… And of course, it wasn’t as though the Sun and Moon Overseers were…  _ All there _ , either… But to think of  _ any _ of them attacking someone as harmless as Kiwi… Someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly… Well, it was hard to picture.

Sure, those slimy little creatures they encountered on the way to Rulle were overly hostile for their size- and their reencounter with them on route to Chaandesh was a closer call than she’d like to admit. But those were  _ mindless _ beasts! They weren’t sapient, like the Overseers were; it was… Different… 

… It took Miriam a while to notice that the bard had exchanged talking for staring, silently watching as she busied herself with her mental gymnastics. Looking for a cue to continue. Or finding any opportunity they could to take things slow. She couldn’t really tell… 

Whatever the case, she gestured them onward with a stray hand, beckoning for them to go on. They obeyed. 

“... Audrey… She leapt in like she always did. Except with less…” They frowned distastefully before the word even left their mouth, “ _ Killing _ … Talked for a little bit about how she was gonna save me… And…” More hesitation, “And… Uh…” 

… Maybe it  _ wasn’t _ the best idea to recount the whole… Potion of Power incident to Miriam of all people. Accidentally insulting her potion-making skills wasn’t something they’d anticipated getting around to today… And they were pretty certain revealing the fact she’d  _ poisoned _ the violent hero- if not only for a little- wouldn’t be the sort of boost to her ego that’d help any of the three of them (Audrey included) anytime soon.

“One thing just sorta… Lead to another…” 

“... Yeeaah…?” The young woman probed. 

“... Yeah.” They’d finally loosened their grip, allowing their now throbbing hands to fall loosely at their sides, instead of clutching to the mahogany table like their life had depended on it, 

“We… Ended up both failing to simmer the situation down, and… We both ended up trapped in a cave, eventually…” 

It was quite coincidental, really. Being a half-decent hero might not have been Audrey’s forte, but it seemed she had a knack for plummeting face first into caves. If it hadn’t been so jarring… If it hadn’t hurt so much… And, perhaps, if Audrey wasn’t half as bruised and bloodied as she was… Maybe it would have been a little funny. 

“Rocks had caved us in. And we couldn’t really  _ climb _ our way out… So… We were stuck there for a little bit. Together.” A loose puff of air forced its way out of their mouth. It was almost reminiscent of a laugh… But it carried no trace of humor, “You know… Aside from when we met in Rulle… I think it was the first time we weren’t fighting over the life of an Overseer… It was just the two of us…” 

“And that’s when she decided to try the whole  _ nice guy _ scheme, right?” Miriam questioned, finally having pushed her chair forward a little more, leaning her elbows against the table, palms cupping her chin. Again, the bard flinched at how suddenly she’d spoken up, but shook their head gingerly, 

“No… Not really…” 

It was quite clear the witch was a little taken aback, head tilting and a finger jutting in their general direction, 

“But I thought you said she was ‘misunderstood’… I figured she must have told you  _ something _ to get her on your side.” 

“She  _ did _ -” Kiwi confirmed, lips pursing into a thin line, “but… Not at first… And it wasn’t a  _ sob story _ , Miriam, it… It felt  _ real _ … And…” They lingered on their next words for a moment, realizing it didn’t help them sound any more convincing, “And  _ yeah _ , they  _ did _ lie to me a  _ little _ , but… Not about that… Not about herself…” 

Miriam waited for them to say it. 

“... Probably…” 

There it was. She sighed, lifting a hand to her forehead and pressing firmly against her temple, 

“ _ Kiwi… _ ” They could hear her murmur- the word pitying and exhausted, “ _ Kiwi, Kiwi, Kiwi… _ ” 

They awaited some sort of scolding from the witch- or at least a bit of commentary about the foolishness of the idea. But it never came. Miriam simply put her hand back down, inhaled deeply, and questioned- managing to keep her voice steady and in check, 

“... And what was it that she said…?” By the way they pulled back a little, expression twisting in a more conflicted nature, she knew she wasn’t going to get an answer even before the bard continued to speak, 

“... I… I think Audrey would want to keep most of it private…” They confessed- well aware of how lame it must have sounded after all the build-up they’d given it, “But… But that’s not what I wanted to talk about anyways, so…” 

“Not not what you wanted t…” Miriam had begun to echo them, but cut herself off as she’d processed what was being said, “Then what are we talking about?!”

“I’m getting to it, alright! I’m-” It was so… Eerily fascinating how well Kiwi could reel themself in when they needed to… With a quick breath in, and a slow whimper of an exhale out (an A flat, if it mattered), they’d returned to the same recomposed state Miriam had almost always seen them in. 

“ _... I didn’t mean to raise my voice… _ ” They mumbled apologetically, “ _ But… This is sort of difficult to talk about _ -” 

“ _ No, no, you… Just take your time… _ ” 

… And they did. Kiwi sat there for a while, wordless and quiet- another odd behavior coming from someone who belted more often than they breathed… Staring into the remains of their flawless lunch- its contents too muddled and opaque for them to see their reflection in- they eventually continued; slower this time, though. Softer. 

“... We talked for… What felt like a  _ really _ long time… Just me and her… But… Eventually, some of my, uh…” Think, think- “ _ Friends _ ...” That’d do- “Found where we’d gotten trapped, and cleared a path for us… Or, well… Cleared a path for  _ me _ … I don’t even think they knew who Audrey was…” 

“ _ A first for her, to be sure… _ ” Miriam snorted, quietly. Kiwi pressed on as though they hadn’t heard, 

“I… I was left with a choice… A very…  _ Difficult _ choice…” They’d looked up quite suddenly, catching their friend a bit off guard. Their doe brown eyes were widened again- but they carried a… Heaviness… A  _ regret _ that was foreign and unnatural for someone like them. 

“... My…  _ Friends _ … Would do whatever I asked them to…  _ Meaning _ , if I… Really  _ wanted _ to… I could have told them not to let her pass… I could have left her there, alone…” 

Miriam hesitated a tick, clearly mulling over her words before she offered them this time, 

“... Isn’t that what she deserved, though? For everything she’d done to us? To  _ you _ ?” 

“No, you… You don’t understand, Miriam…” Their voice lacked any trace of judgment, but Kiwi still swallowed harshly, clearly having not fully mentally prepared themselves for this- even with all the stalling they’d done, 

“It wasn’t  _ just _ leaving her there… Back then I… Well… I  _ thought _ that… If I was  _ going _ to leave her there… I would leave her there to  _ die _ .” Every word was far more feeble than the last, until they were speaking in barely above a whisper. But even despite how evidently painful that much alone was to say, they took it further still, 

“ _ To  _ **_die_ ** _ , Miriam… It was  _ **_cold_ ** _ down there… There wasn’t anything to  _ **_eat_ ** _ down there, and… And she was already wounded from our scuffle with the Overseer… I don’t know how long she would have lasted for in a state like that… _ ” 

They’d been grimacing. Clutching half their face in one hand, too mortified by the words coming out of their own mouth to bring themself to look Miriam in the eye anymore. Perhaps that was for the better. She stared at him- dumbstruck for once in her life- almost gaping like a fish as she watched the bard confess the idea, 

“ _... I almost did it, Miriam… I almost left her there… _ ” 

“... But you didn’t.” 

“... No…” Kiwi finally replied, lifting their head up to the ceiling and opening their eyes, inhaling deeply, “No, I… I-I didn’t… That would have been wrong… I didn’t regret not abandoning her, at first… Even after she… Betrayed my trust… And went right back to attacking Overseers… Sure, it’s not like I  _ liked _ it, but… I still felt like I hadn’t done the wrong thing…” 

… ‘At first’… Implying the regret came  _ later _ … Something that Miriam clearly had caught onto, if the way she stared- tense and expectant- was any indication… But the bard could tell she… Wasn’t putting the pieces together. Not that they blamed her for it; they weren’t sure  _ anyone _ would have an easy time doing such were they not in their shoes. 

… But… It would certainly make all of this  _ easier _ if she  _ did _ . 

“... But when Audrey killed the Dream King… When… When she disappeared, and I t… I thought she…” Kiwi chose not to finish the sentence. It wasn’t as though Miriam could misconstrue what he was trying to say, anyways… 

“... When I thought she was…  _ Gone _ … I mean, I know it sounds kinda stupid now, but I… I always thought… What if keeping her in that cave would have saved her? A… A-and what if… Me letting her go meant it was  _ my _ fault she…”

“... It wouldn’t have been, Kiwi.” Miriam asserted- gentle, yet stern- cutting off the grim stretch of silence before it swallowed the poor bard whole, “Even if she  _ hadn’t _ made it out of all that alive, it wouldn’t have been your fault.” 

Again, Kiwi winced at how bluntly she’d put it, not wanting to think much about the what-ifs surrounding Audrey’s life when she was unconscious in the room right above them as they spoke.

“ _... I…_ _I told you it was kinda stupid…_ ” They mumbled, conflicted and ashamed, dragging a finger against the grooves in the table. It was Miriam’s turn to shake her head this time, finally leaning against the back of her chair, 

“No, not stupid…” Admittedly, calling it ‘reasonable’ wouldn’t have been her first instinct either, but it was far from stupid. Just… A very Kiwi thing to think, is all… 

And then there was quiet. Much needed quiet, neither of them looking at each other as they digested the remnants of their conversation. And the food, too, in Kiwi’s case, Miriam supposed… 

It probably wasn’t any longer than a couple of minutes, but it seemed like hours had passed before the bard lifted their head,

“... Miriam, I-“ They cut themself off with a short gasp when their sentence was interrupted by the creaking of floorboards, and they quickly began scarfing down the remainder of their meal as Grandma Saphy trotted gingerly down the stairs. Audrey’s stained clothing had been tucked under her arm, and she hummed quietly as she walked, pausing to glance over at her granddaughter and their guest as she reached the last step. 

“Well, she’s not doing any worse.” The elder witch answered the question that hadn’t been asked, “But she’s not stable yet… Hasn’t woken up, either.” 

“What are you doing with those?” Miriam asked, pointedly, gesturing towards the bundle of cloth with a tilt of your head. Kiwi, suckling their final sips of lukewarm broth from their spoon, not watched attentively as well- but kept just as quiet as before. 

“Oh, I’m down to the lake, dear.” Sapphire responded, giving the clothing a firm pat with her free hand, “We wouldn’t want these stains to set! Can’t have the poor girl walking around in bloodstained clothes when she recovers.” A pause. A small, mischievous grin,

“And it isn’t as though anything of yours would fit.” 

“You wouldn’t  _ dare _ !” She was well aware her grandmother was pushing her buttons, but the response was instantaneous nonetheless. Saphy simply laughed a delighted, hooty laugh, 

“Of course not, Miriam. Just an observation.” She made her way to the door with purpose- at a pace one wouldn’t quite expect from a lady so small at her age, “You two behave while I’m gone, now!”

“... Of course, Miss Storm…” Kiwi chuckled- forced, of course, with a smile equally so. But, it seemed to be convincing enough, as the woman left without another word, the door shutting gingerly behind her. 

“... You were saying?” Miriam questioned- after pausing for a while to ensure her grandmother had truly left- prodding at her uneaten lunch with her spoon, studying the small ripples. 

The bard watched hesitantly as she crushed a small cherry tomato against the edge of the bowl, before quickly blurting out the “I think I want to go home” they hadn’t gotten out before. 

At first, they regretted letting the words fall out of their mouth- seeing how Miriam froze in place, slowly letting the spoon lean against the edge of the bowl. But they began to settle some when she loosened up again, nodding gently, 

“... Yeah… Bet you do, huh…? After all of that, I’d probably want to, too.” Pushing her chair back, she finally stood up, taking a second to stretch, “Gonna put on some proper clothes when you get back?”

… It was…  _ Curious _ seeing Miriam’s attempts to rib at them… But it carried a sort of comfort to know she was making an attempt to lower the tension. They pushed out of their own chair as well, politely pushing it back in no soon after, 

“More like go straight back to sleep…” Was their reply, accompanied by a small chuckle that was devoid of much humor, “All this talking’s made me tired all over again…” 

Like a confused duckling, they had trailed behind the young witch, who’d already begun heading for the door. She could make a quick flight to Langtree and back with Saphy being none the wiser. And even if she couldn’t, she was sure she’d understand. 

No sooner had she wrapped her hand around her broom did the bard pipe up again, rocking hesitantly back and forth- shifting their weight from foot to foot. 

“... But, uh… Miriam…?” 

“Yeah?”

“Can I… Come back tomorrow…?”

Though she’d turned to face them- more inquisitively than anything- she didn’t hesitate with her answer, 

“Yeah… Sure thing.”


	4. Thunderstruck

Was she falling? It was… Difficult to tell.

She felt… Weightless. Suspended in midair like she was hanging from a string. But that familiar sensation… That knot that twisted up in your gut whenever your body started plummeting hadn’t been present.

Perhaps she wasn’t falling. But she certainly wasn’t standing, either. If there _was_ any ground beneath her feet, it must have been thousands of meters below her… Much too distant to see. 

… Not that Audrey could ‘ _see_ ’ much of anything at the moment. The space that encompassed her was a richer and deeper black than anything she’d ever seen in her life… Like a void… 

The sky- if it even _was_ the sky, above her- was devoid of anything. No minuscule specks of twinkling starlight. No moon. If there _were_ any clouds- something she sincerely doubted- there was nowhere near enough light to see them properly… 

The wind whistled gently, but she felt no breeze. The air around her was… Cold. And stale. And perfectly still. It felt… Incorrect. Almost artificial, strangely enough… Though, of course, that wasn’t the most important thing off-kilter, here.

Audrey hovered there a while, frozen in place in this strange, lifeless environment, before the memories slowly began to resurface themselves… 

… _Right_. Right. The end of the world. The destruction of the universe- the cataclysmic event that would seal the fate of every living thing ever conceived… 

… Had she done it? Was this it? “The End”? If she was honest, she was expecting it to be a lot less… Silent. A lot less uneventful. Or, at the very least, that she would be less _conscious_ after it was all over. The old was supposed to be erased to make room for the new. New life… A new universe… But how long was that supposed to take…? 

Having nowhere to go, she supposed she’d eventually figure out… Stuck there, a hung ornament amidst the nothingness… Were it not for its connotations- for the fact the universe was probably destroying itself from the inside out even now- perhaps it would have even been a little peaceful… A brief moment to reflect before the end. 

A shame it didn’t last. 

It started with a low, hollow buzzling. A quiet, insignificant noise that would have probably gone unheard had it not been so unnervingly silent prior to its introduction. It didn’t take long for the buzz to turn into something more of a rumble… A continuously rolling sound, like a thunderstorm that never ceased.

Audrey could feel it in her stomach… A slowly escalating tremoring that rippled through the surrounding atmosphere. It only grew in intensity as the seconds dragged on. Like an earthquake, but with no ‘earth’ to speak of. An indecipherable, _powerful_ sound that shook the air. 

… She suddenly didn’t feel quite so alone anymore. True, she could see no better or further than she’d been able to before, but the environment around her gave a sudden… _Shift._ Something she _felt_ before she spotted with her eyes. 

There was something _there._ There in the abyss alongside her. Invisible in the darkness, but very tangible nonetheless. It coiled around her almost like a snake, never coming close enough for Audrey to feel it, or truly get a concept of its size, but it didn’t really have to. If its objective was to inspire some sort of terror… A sense of mortal peril… Well, it was certainly working. By Eya, was it working.

The noise hadn’t ceased in the meanwhile- crescendoing to an uproarious, almost _growling_ sort of sound so powerful, the hero swore her bones must have been clattering against each other. She gritted her teeth, all the clamor really starting to drum up an awful pounding in her head. Just when it had started to reach a volume most would consider thoroughly unbearable, it abruptly dropped back down to something a bit more tolerable- simmering back at an innocent low rumble as though it hadn’t threatened to pop her eardrums just moments ago. 

She was grateful for the sudden bout of tranquility, of course. But she didn’t have much time to relish in it. 

Two large spheres- a brilliant, _painfully_ bright white, and as wide and large as a lake- pierced through the darkness as though it’d been as thin as paper. In comparison to the blanket of nothingness that’d surrounded them, Audrey could have been staring dead straight into the _sun_. Her eyes watered in pain as they struggled to adjust, but she couldn’t close them… She couldn’t even _think_ to close them. 

The excruciatingly bright gaze beamed down on her, and she stared back, wide-eyed, and frozen in time. Thunderstruck. 

… What was it? What in Eya’s name _was_ it?! It _couldn’t_ have been an Overseer… Even if any of them had been left alive, they couldn’t possibly grow to heights this gargantuan…! 

… Could they…?

Whatever it was, it took a moment to peer down at the human before it- who might as well have been an _ant_ in comparison- before… Well… You couldn’t quite call it _speaking_. It said nothing that’d be decipherable to a mortal, but it snarled… _Something_. Something that _hurt_ to hear. That filled Audrey’s head with colors and shapes and symbols someone like her wasn’t supposed to be exposed to. Its voice reverberated through the empty air, bouncing off of nothing, multiple echoes of indistinct noises layering on top of each other. 

She couldn’t understand, but she had a feeling this… Horror before her wasn’t very happy. 

Before she could even begin to open her mouth- to question the ‘words’ of the behemoth, perhaps (a worthless endeavor- she was well aware of that- but an instinctual response even so)- a sudden, white hot strip had been cleaved diagonally across her entire body- from her right shoulder down to her left hip. 

For a brief moment, Audrey couldn’t even find a voice to scream with. It was… _excruciating_. A level of pain she wasn’t aware even existed. She’d simply choked on her own spit until she regained enough sense to jolt herself out of her wounded stupor.

But once she had… Eya have _mercy_ … 

She howled in a twisted agony that’d been foreign to her lips for the entirety of her journey. It was an anguish that cared little for her pride or sense of self-importance. Like the wail of a tortured, dying beast (something someone like her would probably be familiar with). 

She couldn’t even stop to catch her breath- get her bearings, or at the _very_ least try to cope with the injury- before she’d been struck a second time. Horizontally, across her chest. 

There wasn’t nearly as big a delay, this time, before the hero again broke out in agonized wails, her head- one of the only things that she seemed to be able to move- writhing wildly from side to side.

Perhaps, if she could scrape together any semblance of thought, she would have tried groping around for her sword. For any form of defense. For _anything_ that could help get her _out of here, Eya Almighty she needed to get_ **_out_ ** _of here!_

But she couldn’t think. Not like this.

And especially not when she was hacked at again- from the back of her neck down the course of her spine. 

Then again, from the underside of her left arm to the tip of its middle finger.

Then _again_ , from right between her shoulder blades and on _through_ her chest, weaving its way out between her ribs. 

And again. And again. And again. Sharper than a blade. More agonizing than hot coals. A biting, withering, debilitating pain that didn’t cease. A mind-numbing torment that swallowed every square inch of her body- inside and out. 

Screams echoed and overlapped in some twisted impression of a symphony- ghastly to hear, and horrifying to witness. Breathless howling and mangled choking reverberated in her very skull. And she was powerless to do anything else. Couldn’t escape. Couldn’t beg. Couldn’t pray Eya hurried up and ended her already. 

Miriam had learned two things that night: 

The first thing was that that damned _‘hero’_ was just as insufferable asleep as she was when she was awake- something the witch had previously thought impossible. The second was that she clearly had some _pretty_ extreme fever dreams. 

It seemed as though Audrey’s condition had steadily been improving as noon slowly turned to evening, and evening to night… Though she hadn’t woken up- meaning nothing to eat or drink, either- Saphy had remarked that she was slowly beginning to show symptoms of progress… 

However, when the time came for the Storm household to hit the hay, Miriam had never been able to sleep for longer than a handful of hours at a time. Periodic little whimpers from the bed beside her- more specifically from that little unwanted ‘ _guest’_ \- were _just_ enough to jostle her awake. However, as annoying as it was, it was never enough to keep her from collapsing no soon than she’d roused to begin with. 

However, periodic whimpers didn’t scratch the _surface_ of the racket Audrey had started making just before dawn. This sudden, _dreaded_ caterwauling that had the young witch practically throwing herself out of bed, violently shoving her covers off of herself, jumping up and looking wildly around as though she expected to see a fire. Or a monster. Or… _Anything_ that justified that kind of howling. 

… Nothing of the sort. Just Audrey. Or, well… “Just Audrey” would imply everything was business as usual. That couldn’t be further from the truth. 

It was… Dubious whether or not the ravenhead was _truly_ conscious in that moment. But she was certainly awake, thrashing wildly- a tangled mess of sweat-soaked blankets, looking like a writhing fish in a net. She’d apparently woken up with a sudden screech, but that had only lasted for a second or two at most. Long enough to wake Miriam up, but by the time she’d fully understood what was going on, it’d been replaced with rasping, mangled sobs and gasps- with perhaps the occasional yelp sprinkled in here and there. 

It was… A thoroughly uncomfortable sight. To see someone like her looking… Like _that_. Even despite her fatigue, Miriam couldn’t help but grimace. Not in a _sympathetic_ manner, mind you (and even if it _was_ , it wasn’t like she’d admit it), but it was undeniably awkward and distressing to watch. 

Footsteps- evenly paced, but still a bit hasty- tromped quickly up the stairs, and soon enough did Sapphire reach the second floor, looking about with exhausted concern. She locked eyes with her granddaughter, briefly, before scampering over to Audrey’s bedside as quickly as any old lady could scamper. 

From how drenched she was in her own sweat, one would sooner assume the hero had just finished dragging herself out of a lake. Her eyes were half-lidded- presumably from a debilitating mixture of fatigue and delirium- and while she still whimpered and tossed herself about a little, her miniature sobbing fit had since died down a little more. Really, it was impressive she was able to do _that_ much- what with how weak she must have been. 

Saphy gently pressed a hand against her chest- careful not to disturb her injuries- pushing her back down into the bed. Though she continued to whine and snivel, Audrey obeyed the wordless command, and her body fell slack against the uncomfortably damp mattress and pillow. In less than a minute, she was completely knocked out again. 

There was a shared sigh of relief between both of the witches, before Saphy slowly took her hand away, turning to peer confusedly at Miriam. 

“... I didn’t do anything.” 

“I never said you did, Miriam-” 

“Well good. Because I didn’t.” She sleepily asserted- more out of force of habit than out of genuine fear for taking the blame for… Whatever it was that had suddenly possessed their houseguest, “She just… Woke up and started _freaking_ out. Was whimpering a lot, too- earlier on.” 

Her grandmother’s face tightened in concern, and she took one last look at the sickly thing in _her_ bed, before gingerly making her way back to the stairs again, 

“... Night terrors, no doubt…” She concluded, all sense of urgency having drained from her movements once she was certain there was no need for alarm, “Poor girl… At the very least, she was awake for a moment…” 

“ _For just long enough to wake everyone else up…_ ” Miriam muttered under her breath, only loud enough for herself to hear. She let out a yawn she’d been trying to suppress, already yanking the bedsheets back over top of her. She watched as her grandmother gave the two of them one last glance, before beginning to retreat back down the stairs, calling quietly back towards Miriam without turning back, 

“If it happens again, we can always trade places. I’m fine with sleeping up there.” 

“Alright…” The younger witch called back, maybe a little too quietly for the other to hear by now. She most certainly was _not_ going to do that. As frustrating it was to have the _‘hero’_ cooped up in their house, the only thing that would make it worse was if her presence started affecting Saphy’s sleep schedule more than it had to. 

… Or, well… Okay, maybe that wouldn’t be the _only_ thing that could have made it worse. But Miriam wasn’t going to let that happen, if she could help it. Even if it _did_ mean sacrificing her sleep schedule… 

  
The _first_ thing she was going to do when it was late enough in the morning to be considered ‘tomorrow’ was head _straight_ to the Eagle Cafe, and drinking as many coffees as it took to keep herself awake for the flight back to Kiwi’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take a shot every time Audrey says Eya's name in vain.
> 
> (Also I'm gonna try to update this in a timely manner, but I haven't written proper, multi-chapter fanfiction in so long, so sorry if there's a little bit of a delay. I'm really engaged with this story so far- and you all have been really receptive- so I'm gonna try to keep it that way for as long as I can. Thank you so much <3)


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